Injury mars successful trip

NEW YORK - Finishing a four-game trip across the country with two victories and collecting five out of a possible eight points made for a modestly successful first venture on the road for the Ducks, but it came with a significant cost.

Minutes-eating defenseman James Wisniewski suffered a sprained right shoulder and left the ice late in the third period of Saturday's 3-2 shootout victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

After X-rays were taken, the Ducks announced that the top-four defender will be out "week to week." Through four games, Wisniewski ranked third in average ice time on the team (25:15) and already had four assists from the blue line.

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said Wisniewski was injured when he was checked by Flyers winger Daniel Briere as he went to chase down a loose puck.

"He actually went to recover a puck and fell down," Carlyle said Sunday. "And Briere kind of fell on top of him and pushed him into the boards. He hit into the boards awkwardly."

Carlyle said his best estimate would be that Wisniewski will miss at least a week of action but "then after that, go day to day or whatever."

The Ducks recalled Brendan Mikkelson from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League to fill Wisniewski's spot on the roster. The final roster cut in training camp this September, Mikkelson had appeared in two games with the Marlies and recorded one assist.

A second-round pick in 2005, Mikkelson gained his first NHL experience last season when he appeared in 34 games last season. The 22-year-old made his season debut in Wisniewski's place alongside Ryan Whitney.

"It's unfortunate for Wiz that that happened," Mikkelson said. "Obviously I'm not going to fill his shoes right away. I just try to do what I can and do my part."

Carlyle remarked at the end of camp that Mikkelson has vastly improved from the previous season. The young defenseman took that to heart, saying he was told to stay ready in case an injury happened with the big club.

"It's definitely one of the things that they reminded me of," he said. "Even though I was going down, I had done some real positive things at camp. If something were to happen, make sure that I'm ready. Do good things with my time in Toronto.

"So that's what I tried to do. Be productive down there and just wait until something happens."

BAD TRENDS

After five games, some disturbing trends are emerging.

The Ducks have yet to score a first-period goal and often have been outplayed at the start of games. They managed just one shot on goal in the first 20 minutes against the Rangers.

On the slow starts, Carlyle said, "Are they bothering me? For sure."

Scott Niedermayer elaborated a little more on the subject.

"You're always concerned with areas that you can be better at, and that's an obvious one," he said.

Niedermayer also touched on their abysmal penalty killing after allowing two more power-play goals. They have allowed eight in 29 disadvantage situations for a 72 percent conversion rate.

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